THROUGH THE YEAR 71 



even the boldest and deftest, could dangle into. 

 But the birds of prey were not to be seen only a 

 kestrel here and there glided round the cliffs. 



There are the Long Island and the Short Island 

 and the Sisters' rocks full of nesting gulls or puffins. 

 On one of these stacks a pair of saddlebacks were 

 nesting amidst the herring gulls, and as I lay on the 

 cliff watching the hen sitting, her mate came up 

 and swung round and round me, barking or yapping, 

 and groaning with that deep strange groan of his 

 kind. He went off after a while, only to return 

 and swing round me again miles of mazy 

 motion ! 



I thought that if it were possible for any bird to 

 excel a herring gull in air-ease, the saddleback 

 might be that bird, so glorious, so full of power and 

 grace was its action over me in the sea breeze ; but 

 I doubt whether the saddleback is really a greater 

 master of the air than the other. 



Long and Short Islands have each a large party 

 of puffins, which burrow like rabbits in the slanting 

 sides of these rocks, where there is some crumbling 

 matter. But I found it easier to watch them at 

 close quarters on a crag of cliff that has burst off 

 from the mainland, the crag called Lye Rock. All 

 day these curious birds, with guillemots and razor- 

 bills, are flying to and fro between the slants and 

 ledges and the sea, but at the height of their nesting 

 season they engage at sunset in a wild whirl, sweeping 

 swiftly round and round near this rock. When I 

 first saw them whirling thus, I was half a mile from 



